Cotton harvester



Sept. 10, 1929- w. E. BURROWS I COTTON HARVESTER Filed Dec. 14, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

TTORNEY.

Sept. 1( 1929. w, E. BURROWS QOTTON HARVESTER Filed 09514, 19 26 2 Sheets-Sheet.v 2

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 10, 1929.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM E. BURROWS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COTTON HARVESTER.

Application filed December 14, 1926. Serial No. 154,770.

My invention relates to cotton harvesters and its main object is to provide a machine of simple construction which by-suction applied at the plants removes the ripe cotton from the bolls. r

Another object of the invention is to facilitate and expedite the removal of the cotton by the use of amechanical appliance, thereby saving time and labor with better and more satisfactory results.

It is a'further object of'the invention to provide a harvesting machine of the above described character which removes and delivers the cotton without injury to either the product itself or to the operating mechanism by which the crop is collected. Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a mechanism permitting of the removal of the ripe cotton from anumber of plants or from difierent parts of one or more plants simultaneously. a

A further object is to providea cotton harvesting machine which collects the cotton which is removed from the plants by a number of operators, in separate receptacles, and still other objectsmay be found in details of constructionand a novelarrangement of parts as will be fully brought out in the course'of the following description.

50 In the accompanying drawings, in the several views of whichlike parts are similarly designated Figure 1 represents a partially sectional elevation of a'harvestingmachine constructed in accordance with'myinvention,

FigureIQ, aplan-view of the same,

Figure 3, an end-elevation of the machine looking in the direction of the arrow A in Figure 1, p I L Figure 4, an enlarged View of'othe suctionnozzles by which the crops are collected at the plants, 1

Figure 5, an enlarged fragmentary elevation of one of the nozzles, I

Figure 6, an underneath View of thesame, looking in the direction of the arrowB in Figure 5, i

:Figure 7 ,a further enlargedsectiontaken on the line 7'7Figure"5,

Figure 8, an enlarged section along the line 88Figure 5, and a I Figure '9, an enlarged section through the ,upper portion of one of the tanks comprised in the construction, taken on the line 99 in Figure 2. I I

The machine as shown comprises a carriagc 5 supported on wheels 6 and 7 and adapt ed to bedrawnbetween rows of cotton plants in a field to be harvested, by one or more draft animals or by a tractor.

Mountedat the rear end of the carriage is an engine 8 preferably'of the, internal combustion type, which by means of a jack shaft 9, and suitable transmission devices such as the belts 10 and pulleys 12, is operatively connected with a suction fan 13. I

The fuel for the operation of the engine may be stored in an elevated tank 14 and the gases of combustion discharged from the engine es cape into the atmosphere at a point high above the carriage through a conduit 15. The carriage further supports a battery ofupright tanks 16 in which,-in the operation of the machine, the cotton is collected. Each tank containsa foraminous basket 17 preferably made of woven wire and supported on the bottom thereof and the several tanks are con nected at their lowerportions with the suction opening of the fan either individually or, as illustratedin the drawings, by interconnection through the medium of couplings 18 and by the connection of the tank nearest to the engine, with the'suction fan by means of a nipple 19.

The tanks are equipped with removable lids QOQpreferably hinged as at 21 and held in place by spring-straps 22 which extend across the lids and are fastened inplace by'means of cam-levers 23' engaging with catches at the sides of the'body-members of the tanks. The cams are designed to draw the lids downwardly upon the rims of the tanks byineans of the resilient straps, and gaskets 24: of rubber or other suitable packing-material, placed betweenthe two parts aid in the production of air-tight joints.

The tanksmay be provided with one or more pressure gages as indicated at 25 and. with safety-valves or exhaust cocks 26 which after proper adjustment, maintain the partions in form and arrangement maybe re-' sorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the hereunto ap-' pended claims. 1 7 p Y The baskets in the tanks are open at their tops and the tanks have above the baskets, V inlet openings through which the cotton enters-in the operation of themachine. The inlets are connected with conduits 2'7fa'stened on an upright frame 28 at the rear of the carriage and the open ends of the conduits are by means of air-tight swivel joints connected with flexible hose 29 of sufiicientlength to reach the cotton plants in the rows along.

whichthe-machine'is drawn.

Two of the hose are'suspended from cranes 3O pivotally mounted on the frameQB, and

a third hose intermediate of the others, may

be fastened above the carriage to extend to one side of the machine. At the end of each hose is a union 31 forthe connection of two branch-tubes '32 likewise made of flexible material, and at the'ends of the branch tubes are nozzles 33. fThe nozzles may be connected with the ends of the respective hose by swiveled or flexible jointsof any suitable air-tight construction, permittingof ready movement of the nozzles to different parts of the cotton plants, and the nozzles are provided with. bell shaped mouth-pieces 34 to facilitate the entrance of the cotton asit is removed from the plants Each nozzle has a valve housing 35 pro- 7 .vided with a slide way 'forla gate valve '36 the position of which is controlled by a lever 37 which is fulcrumed on the nozzle as at 38. The gate-valve has racks '39 at opposite sides 1 thereof as best shown in Figure 8, which racks are engaged by toothed wheelseO at opposite ends of a shaft ll rotatably supported in a bearing on the-liousing,-and the shaftcarries outside the housing, pinions 42 of smaller diameter which mesh with toothed segments 43 at the free end of the leverI The operator holding the nozzles, can open their respective gates, by pressure of the hands upon the leversand again close the same when 1. the pressure is released so that in the operation of the machine, the suction produced by partial vacuum in the tanks on the carriage is made effective only at the time the mouths of the nozzles are placed opposite to the'bolls i; from which, the cotton is to be removed.

It will thus be apparent that the removal of the ripe cotton is under complete control of the operator who owing to the flexibility of the connections of the nozzle with the conduits 27 connected to the vacuum tanks can remove the cotton from different parts of the cinity of the cotton-boll and opens the respective valves, the ripe cotton is immediately removed by suction and drawn through the in- I let of the tank into the respective foraminous basket.'- I p The mesh of the basket is such that the cotton can not pass to the opening in the lower portion of the tank at-which it connects with the suction fan and the cotton is thus collected in the basket until it isfilled when by removal of the lid of the tank, itis removed, emptied and replaced with little trouble or loss of time.

The machine is usually drawn between two rows of cotton plants and the hoseand cranes are adjusted so that two 'of the nozzle-elements are at one side of themachine and another element at'the other side of the same. Three operators each carry one of the nozzle elements holding the two members thereof in both hands, and three rows of cotton plants are thus harvested simultaneously. while the carriageqismoved along the same. i

. The pivotal connections of the cranes and the flexibility of the hose and the nozzle connectionspermit "of moving the nozzles in different directions toward the rear or front of the machine and at opposite sides of the same, and after, the baskets of the several tanks are filled and the operation ofthe machineis temporarily discontinued, the contents of the baskets removed from the tanks, can be weighed and the various amounts of harvested cotton accredited to the different operators. 7

At the beginning of the operation the row along which the carriage is drawn is left unharvested but upon the return movement of the carriage after it has reached an end of the field,it follows one ofthe harvested rows so that by movement of the carriage alternately in (apposite directions,-the entire field is cov-' ere It is an important feature of the invention that in'the operation of the machine, no cotton passes through the fan or other part of theoperating mechanism so that the cotton is harvested free from injury and without danger of interfering with'the operation of the apparatus. 7 r j The carriage is hung low so that it is not easily upset, and, being mounted on four wheels having broad tires, it is easily drawn height to support the'hose above the tallest cotton plants in the field.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A harvesting machine comprising a plurality of tanks inter-connected at their bottom portions for the passage of air from one to another, a suction device for drawing air from one of the tanks, each tank having an air inlet at the top portion thereof, foraminous baskets in the tanks between the inlets and the inter-connections, conduits connecting with the inlets, and nozzles on the conduits.

2. A cotton harvester comprising a series of tanks interconnected for the passage of air consecutively through the tanks of the series, a suction device connected with one of the 2 tanks, whereby to draw air from all of the connected tanks, means to retain cotton carried by the air in each tank, and intake conduits connected with the tanks for the supply of cotton-carrying air thereto 3. A harvesting machine comprising a plurality of tanks interconnected at one end for the passage of air from one to another, and having air inlets at their other ends, a suction device drawing air from one of the tanks,

foraminous baskets in the tanks between the inlets and the interconnections, conduits connected with the inlets, and nozzles on the conduits.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

WILLIAM E. BURROWS. 

